We had heard so much about the Golden
Gate Bridge and the entry to San Francisco Bay, mostly about how bad
the conditions could be!So
we planned a high slack tide entry that just happened to be at dawn.
It was a perfect, calm morning for our passage under the Golden Gate
Bridge. This was our first major port entry on our own and was the
start of a policy to NEVER enter a strange harbor after dark (which we
have only broken once by entering the well marked Mazatlan Harbor at 2
am).

Our friend Richard Ying arranged for us
to stay in his slip at Pier 39, right in the center of everything. From there we explored San
Francisco; walking every day to a different part of the city. We
really enjoyed the city although we didn't appreciate how cold San
Francisco could be in Sept.

We shared the marina with hundreds of
sea lions. Protected by California law, they have appropriated the
slips on one side of the marina at Pier 39. Sea lions are not the most
congenial neighbors, as they make a lot of noise and they don't smell
too nice.

We all loved the Japanese Garden at
Golden Gate Park. We even liked the design of
the bathrooms.

Betsey: I
loved these cool and mysterious paths leading to magical bridges over
still water. Even looking at the photos makes me feel serene. I want to be a landscape gardener in my next life.

The Moon Bridge was lovely, just a few Siberian Iris blooming at the edge of the water.

We left San Francisco soon
after we visited the Japanese Garden. We spent a few days in Sausalito, a few days at Angel Island, then we
headed south for Half Moon Bay

We left Ayala Cove,
Angel Island on
a clear hot morning and sailed around the west headland…and into a thick,
cold fog bank.Luc had the helm,
the sails were up, sailing hard. We all watched anxiously for boat traffic.

A fog horn kept getting louder and louder

and then a freighter
loomed out of the fog, pointed at our beam about 200 yards
off.

There
wasn’t time to be scared.Luc
held his course; there was nothing else to do.We pointed directly at the mid
channel marker because freighters stay well clear of the markers. We hoped they could see us on radar, because we
couldn't see them.

And she didn’t hit
us, but it was …...up close and personal with the
Horizon Navigator. And these photos are several minutes later, once we started breathing again and had the wits to grab the camera.

a little close, yes?

Leaving the Golden Gate
Bridge behind, and beginning the next leg of our journey